Stick no bill or Noida authority will make you pay

Posters, sign boards on Metro pillars, walls and other places will soon be a thing of the past. The Noida authority has decided to impose fines on those caught defacing public properties.

The authority has conducted a survey to identify the companies, individuals, political parties and businessman who use public properties for promotional activities without obtaining permission.

All the offenders will be warned through notices. The authority will start imposing fines from next week.

The authority has prepared a list of hundreds of people, whose advertisements are displayed either on walls or on government’s sign boards, besides other public spaces.

“We have prepared a list of people and companies against whom we will take strict action. Our team has observed that some people have put up their advertisements on the road sign boards, causing inconvenience to commuters. This practice of putting advertisements on public places damage the image of the city,” said Sanjeev Saran, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

The authority will soon start removing these advertisements and penalise the offenders.

“We have studied the prevention of defacing of public property act applicable in Delhi and other states to enforce the law appropriately in the context of Uttar Pradesh,” said another official.

Posters and hoardings put up by political parties during elections are major concerns for the residents. At several places, promotional hoardings obstruct the view of road sign boards that have been put for guiding about directions to motorists.

Many residents have hailed the authority’s decision and said the move will prevent offenders to cause unnecessary inconvenience to the motorists. This will also help the authority to maintain cleanliness in the city.